Great read Steve. I lived at belmont north till about age 13.....used to be a shop across the road from belmont lake that held pinny comps. I used to haunt orbit 1 as well, that was an awesome arcade in its day. Its still there but been closed for many years, had some machines in till recently (even a howzat).

Yeah Greg, Orbit 1 was awesome, we used to "hangout" for the weekend to go there. I did play some pins a the shop across from the lake but I never went in a competition there.. I was never real good
An interesting side note.. I sold an Olympic Wildcard Machine a while back to a lady who is married to the son of the people that owned that shop back then. He has 2 pins now , a Joker Poker & another that I just can't recall ( maybe a Flash ? ) She bought them for him as they were games that a loved to play back then.
Funny we probably played pins side by side in those days & did meet till 25+ years later.
ah the memories, that's another thing great about this hobby.
Cheers Steve.